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Aglaean System
The Aglaea System is the capital system of the Herakaeli Cluster sub-sector of the greater Ixaniad sector, and prime demesne of the Hephaestian Mechanicus. Like many Mechanicus systems, every single surface and usable point has been converted to interplanetary depots, space stations, anchor points, and argodome networks. Visitors to the system will find themselves within a veritable fortress, and any interplanetary movement is highly controlled, for the Mechanicum is always paranoid of incursion, and rightfully so. Defensive platforms and auguries peer into the hearts of those ships that enter, picking out all weaknesses. Automated space-borne drones swarm through the system like hordes of carrion crows, seeking prey, and without proper access codes, intruders will find their citadel-ships torn down piece by piece as blistering solar radiation scours clean the twisted hulls. Stellar Bodies Aglaea The various bodies revolve about a star which burns bright like a beacon in the darkness which surrounds the Eye of Terror. Even as the harsh light scours the worlds under its harsh gaze, the blue star provides the energy for countless solar generators and argodomes. The scalding gaze had long ago rendered the system bare, millennia of harsh light and solar flares leaving the worlds thin of atmosphere and inhospitable. According to fragmentary records of the systems founding, through the power of the Mechanicum was new life breathed into the worlds. It is through the genius of the tech priests that the power of this harsh eye is harnessed and dominion held over nature via network of heavily shielded lumen collecting satellites orbiting about the star, collecting nigh immeasurable amounts of energy and transmitting them via phased energy transponders and bleeding off solar flare ups with titanic grav-suspensor projectors and thermal siphons. Planets Xespora * Xespora * Segmenatum: Obscura. Galactic North. Sector: Ixaniad Sector. * System: Aglaea System. * Designation: Death World. * Orbital period: 163.2 Terran Days * Rotational period: 18.7 hours * Orbital distance: 0.83 AU * Tithe Grade: Aptus non (Dead World) A graveyard of a world sterilized long ago by the ionizing radiation of Aglaea, this burnt husk of a planet represents a dumping site for the tech priests of Hephaestia. Every day millions of tons of waste material are dumped under the harsh light of Aglaea, the scorching radiation burning out sensitive electronics of waste technology the priests would keep secret. The searing heat boiling away seas of chemical waste and the light denaturing all organics abandoned upon it. It is forbidden to step foot upon this world, as to do so is a death sentence. Enforcing this quarantine is a series of stations in orbit, suspended in space for a series of purposes. Some dedicated to security, others dedicated to the mounting and deployment of new and powerful weapons, for the polluted hellscape is a perfect testing ground for the macro-scale weapons produced by the Hephaestian Forges and a convenient means to ensure the appropriate destruction of what lies below. It is said that the deep recesses of the planet within the carcasses of voidships and strata of wreckage dwell the tiniest of populations, vile mutants or hereteks who cannot escape the system yet have sought haven. Euphema and Momus * Segmenatum: Obscura. Galactic North. * Sector: Ixaniad Sector. * System: Aglaea System. * Designation: Agri-World. * Orbital period: 432.8/721.3 Terran Days * Rotational period: 48.5/33.1 hours * Orbital distance: 1.3/1.6 AU * Tithe Grade: Decuma Extremis Two of the inner planets (Aglaea-II and III) have been converted to agri-worlds to sustain the population. Continent sized Argodome networks shield the macro-farms from the glaring light of their sun. Land is sometimes given to serfs who manage to distinguish themselves in the manufactoria and the forge fanes, this land does not get inherited and once the landholder dies, another is selected to watch over the lands. Upon Momus is a great Mechanicum citadel built of iron and stone for the purposes of House Dumontine. Within this facility are the repair and construction facilities to facilitate the rebuilding of the thrall-house. Momus was ravaged in the opening months of the Lightless Century. Over 43% of its land was rendered contaminated or unusable. Food production has suffered and land is restored where possible, where impossible, new Mechanicum facilities have sprung up dedicated to cloning food products and involving in genetics work in addition to mass manufacture of ammunition. Hephaestia * Segmenatum: Obscura. Galactic North * Sector: Ixaniad Sector. * System: Aglaea System. * Designation: Forge World. * Orbital Period: 610 Terran Days * Rotational Period: 18 hours * Orbital distance: 1.9 AU * Tithe Grade: Aptus Non The Forge World of Hephaestia serves as the planetary capital of the system, and De Facto capital of the sub-sector. Founded in the waning millenia of the Age of Strife, the Mechanicus presence has flowed forth from this world to grow into a burgeoning fiefdom. The planet is a geologically stable world initially rich in a wide variety of metals and ore. Since it's conquest by the Mechanicus, great portions of the formerly mountains world have been leveled and ravines filled in to smooth the building of additional structures and hyper-industry. Caeculus * Segmenatum: Obscura. Galactic North. * Sector: Ixaniad Sector. * System: Aglaea System. * Designation: Mining World. * Orbital period: 2192.2 Terran Days * Rotational period: 31.4 hours * Orbital distance: 4.8 AU * Tithe Grade: Aptus Non Caeculus is a gaseous planet rich in hydrogen, nitrogen, and various other gasses. In orbit around this planet are vast space-borne mining platforms which continuously plumb the depths for the precious elements to further refining or conversion into sublight drive fuel. On the moons of Caeculus exist manufacturing facilities for voidcraft parts with numerous orbital shipyards around them; these shipyards are capable of producing many patterns of Imperial ship, with their grandest achievement being the production of the Oberon-Class battleship. Though production of those mighty ships is a massive endeavor and can take many decades to produce a single one at the expense of the production of other lesser craft. Crius * Segmenatum: Obscura. Galactic North. * Sector: Ixaniad Sector. * System: Aglaea System. * Designation: Mining World (Destroyed) * Orbital period: 742.6 Terran Days * Rotational period: 37.3 hours * Orbital distance: 4.9 AU * Tithe Grade: Aptus non Crius was a former mining world within the Aglaean system which contains extremely rich promethium deposits found only in single layers of Strata. Evidence of incredibly ancient ruins had been discovered on the planet which was otherwise nearly completely barren save for patches of strangely verdant growth where most of the planets population dwelt. It was thought to have been the home of an ancient Xenos species and a much more verdant world before some unknown cataclysm. Soil analysis had revealed absolutely no nutrients within the scoured soil, and an unusually high concentration of carbon. Ruins of an unknown species had been found upon the planet prior to its destruction which would later be theorized to have connections to the Necrontyr by the Xenobiologus. As such, the Hephaestian Silent Order committed much to study of ancient alien technology using ground penetrating scans and deep mining operations. Gaeaus * Segmenatum: Obscura. Galactic North. * Sector: Ixaniad Sector. * System: Aglaea System. * Designation: Mining World. * Orbital period: 653.2 Terran Days * Rotational period: 29.3 hours * Orbital distance: 5.3 AU * Tithe Grade: Decuma Extremis This world is rich in Adamantium, cobalt, helium, and other metals required for the manufacturing of high quality military and industrial grade equipment as materials required for the manufacture of very high quality lenses. What is not covered in mining facility is covered by manufactoria which run constantly to directly turn mined crystal into the required macro-scale lenses for the highly effective Hephaestia Pattern Godsbane Lance Battery, a powerful photonic weapon mounted on main battleships which continue to be in high demand. In addition to the batteries, las weapons of all walks are produced constantly to fill the hunger of the Imperial war machine. Eucleia * Segmenatum: Obscura. Galactic North. * Sector: Ixaniad Sector. * System: Aglaea System. * Designation: Shrine World/Forge World * Orbital period: 2634.1 Terran Days * Rotational period: 24.3 hours * Orbital distance: 5.9 AU * Tithe Grade: Aptus non Eucleia is a repository world covered in temples to the Omnissiah and to the God-Emperor of Mankind known for its vast cogitator banks containing technological information sometimes dating back to the great crusade or beyond, notably the construction and maintenance of photon weaponry and patterns of plasma weaponry rarely seen in the Imperium. The world provides sanctuary to data of utmost importance to the Forges throughout the system. Outside of the temples lie data storage facilities, warehouses, and infocrypts along with massive scriptoria required to disgorge the proper protocols to those properly inducted into the highest mysteries of the omnissiah. The greatest treasures of the world lie within titanic stasis vaults at the center of the planet: arcane xenos devices, twisted wrecks of ancient or alien ships, with the greatest treasure being the utterly unique and ancient Ark Mechanicum which brought the priests to this system. Rumors about of the true secrets buried in the depths of the world abound. This world is kept warm by ancient climate engines which maintain the atmosphere of the planet and keep it habitable so far from the blazing sun. A quarter of the world’s surface lies in ruin from an Ork Whaag! attack; partial restoration of the lost data is proceeding slowly. Additional assaults by the Thousand Sons have left the master of this world paranoid, and new defensive emplacements are beginning to stud the towers of Mechanicum faith. Significant Orbital Stations Over millennia, the Hephaestian Mechanicus has dominated the space as well as the ground of the planetary bodies. Hundreds of spaceborne habitats, research stations, argodomes, depots, anchor stations, defense platforms, binharic relays, and listening posts hang throughout the system to ply knowledge from their demesne, guard the incalculable value of the system, or simply engage in bureaucracy. Vulcanal Stations The outermost bodies of the Aglaean system are a series of stations hung in a sphere around the bright blue sun, orbiting out past Eucleia, this sphere of docking stations and manufacturing hab blocs numbering at 216 independant stations represents the first line and public docking point for ships approaching the system. Nominally the outermost layer of the Forge, the stations represent the stations most open to outsiders. Each station is primarily composed of habitation grounds, bureaucratic offices, factorum houses, and many other such facilities dedicated to trade and commerce. Each station is home to its own industrial microcosm which produces a constant stream of low priority goods previously dedicated to provisional needs of starship crews. The stations maintain a carefully coordinated dance with incoming ships, each and any oncoming ship is petitioned on a rotating frequency band and given approximately fifteen Terran Minutes to respond. Carefully coordinated defense grids are installed into the stations and hung about them in cloaked reflex shielding, designed to track and tag any and all incoming ships. Torpedo batteries can be deployed swiftly and tractor fields, normally intended to assist ships in guiding into the docks, are turned to vicious purpose as the spacecraft are held in place for bombardment. In the century of darkness and the terror of the Imperium Nihilus, much of the stations have had their origional functions canabilized and turned entierly into defense platforms. Others are turned entierly into processing centers for inbound refugees, of which the flood is constant. Gaious Stations A series of Argodome Stations which hang intermittendly in between the orbits of the ruins of Crius and the planet of Gaeaus which supply the food rations exclusivley to the colonies and habitats of the outer planets. The inner agri-worlds, not exempt from the Imperial Tithe, had their food diverted away from the Aglaean System and the Forge World. These food production habitats function by means of a complex series of hydroponics and organic matter re-purposing. In addition to holding food supplements, these stations help ensure that the Forge can remain self-sufficient. The Gorgon Line A ring of defensive platforms built into the rubble of Crius strew throughout the inner worlds of the system. etc etc The Portum Anchor Checkpoints The last docks before allowing access to the forge, a series of stations and void installations in orbit around the central star. Between each station are countless gravitic mines and fusion charges, sheathed in auspex baffling coating and thermally shielded to be hidden. Each station holds a garrison of Classiari Voidsmen, void modified Ursarax, and Void Modified Arlatax Automata, as well as a variety of spaceborne drones. Every ship is stopped at these stations and boarded, their holds searched and swept. If anything strange is found, ships from the inner defensive lines will quick burn to the designated holes in the mine fields to destroy the targets. The Dead Scar Not so much a name for a type of station, but a collective of various station types representing a nigh irreperable hole in the Hephaestian defensive lines. During the mass chaotic invasion during the Great Retreat, which culminated in the Battle of Momus, the heretics burned a line through the defensive lines and space stations from above the galactic plane and down the sphere of protection of defensive stations, corrupting each of them in kind. Food stocks were polluted, guns and torpedo platforms turned inward, and whole stations vanished from auspex sweeps. While the bulk of the stations have been cleansed, several remain in their orbits as (still corrupted and stuff expand later) =